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Review: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
In the decade following the cancellation of Gene Rodenberry’s “Star Trek,” science fiction fandom has all but rocketed to warp speed due to the show being rerun throughout the country (and the world); along with the successes of such recent films as George Lucas’ Star Wars, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and this past this past summer with Ridley Scott’s Alien. Space was the limit for James Bond’s latest adventure Moonraker, and on television with “Battlestar Galactica.” Just as children will be nestled in bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, Disney will make their step into science fiction cinema with The Black Hole.
The U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are back in Paramount’s big-budgeted holiday release Star Trek: The Motion Picture. No doubt that Rodenberry and Michael Eisner are hoping that viewers of the small screen series will shell out a few dollars to see William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, et al together again on the big screen.
An energy force of unknown alien origin is racing through the galaxy enveloping anything—like a trio of Klingon spacecraft—in its way, and the force appears to be heading for Earth. The refurbished Enterprise and crew are assembled hoping hoping to stop it.
Admiral Kirk (Shatner) assumes command of the vessel from Captain Decker (Stephen Collins), who isn’t keen on Kirk back in command of his old ship. Soon after witnessing the presumed destruction of a Federation outpost, the Enterprise is off to the stars. However, Kirk’s Vulcan colleague Mr. Spock (Nimoy) is not on board but back on his home world.
Sensing that the answers he seeks are somehow related to the energy surging through space, Spock returns to resume his post as science officer and renew old animosities with curmeudgeonly sawbones Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly).
The cast does no more than simply act like they were back aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Only it seems as if they’re still on the small screen. About the only new elements to be found are the dreadful uniforms which are crude carbon copies of the outfits sported by the the cast of “Space 1999;” Christine Chapel (Majel Barret-Rodenberry) is now a doctor; and Scotty (James Doohan), now the transporter chief, has grown a mustache and a paunch. The ship has been redesigned. Among the new faces to be found, and there aren’t exactly many, save for the costumed extras along with those in alien makeup with no lines to utter (unless one counts the alien with a prominent forehead who speaks after Kirk has left the bridge for the first time) are Collins and former Miss India Persis Khambatta as a bald alien navigator sworn to celibacy—much to the pain of Collins.
While the film boasts amazing visuals courtesy of Oscar-winning effects artisans Doug Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey) and John Dykstra (Star Wars), the film seems rather hollow. Jerry Goldsmith’s score gives some life to this rather lengthy narrative. Given that director Robert Wise is a two-time Oscar winner (The Sound of Music and West Side Story), it’s a shame. Truly sad as Wise has also worked in science fiction as his efforts include The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain, and Silent Running—which Dykstra and Trumbull worked on, too. It’s little more than a virtual rehash of Stanley Kubrick’s highly-regarded (and empty) 2001: A Space Odyssey and a generous dash of “Space 1999” where the actors play second fiddle to the razzle dazzle of the special effects wizardry
Robert Baum is Currently a Bryn Mawr, PA-based film afficanado and pop culture junkie.
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